Calling something a scam can just mean they profit off highly immoral behavior or are inherently deceptive. Loan sharks are scams. Pyramid schemes were scams, even when they weren't illegal.

It's wild that "predatory" doesn't sound at least as bad as "fraudulent". Customers aren't prey just as much as they're not people to be lied to!

I've never seen a single timeshare that makes sense in terms of cost to value ratio. There's always a more flexible/cheaper/profitable way to do whatever it is you're trying to do than a timeshare, unless of course you're the one selling it. Very fair to call it a scam.

Scam is more general than outright fraud. I would say they mislead you about the financials enough to count.